Sackbut
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, and an ancestor of the modern trombone. It was derived from the medieval slide trumpet.
"Every instrument took part in the stately Pavane: the lutes and the dulcimers, and the theorbos, and the sackbuts, and the hautboys; the flutes sweetly warbling as birds in the upper air, and the silver trumpets, and the horns that breathed deep melodies trembling with mystery and tenderness that shakes the heart; and the drum that beateth to battle, and the wild throb of the harp, and the cymbals clashing as the clash of armies."
- 2 a medieval musical instrument resembling a trombone wordnet
Example
More examples"Every instrument took part in the stately Pavane: the lutes and the dulcimers, and the theorbos, and the sackbuts, and the hautboys; the flutes sweetly warbling as birds in the upper air, and the silver trumpets, and the horns that breathed deep melodies trembling with mystery and tenderness that shakes the heart; and the drum that beateth to battle, and the wild throb of the harp, and the cymbals clashing as the clash of armies."
Etymology
From French sacqueboute, from Middle French sacquer (“to pull”) + bouter (“to push”).
Related phrases
More for "sackbut"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.